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CITY OF DUBOIS Page 83
was usually a settling day once a year, and that was after the
timber had been run to market, sold and the proceeds brought back.
Banks were scarce, probably one or two banks in a
county seat or a town of some size. In Brady Township the nearest
banking institution up until 1871 was Curwensville. F. K. Arnold &
Co. established a bank at. Luthersburg. Later Reynoldsville was the
closest banking point. People kept their money at home. This
sometimes resulted in robberies and a case that received a great
deal of notoriety in the Jefferson County Court was the murder of
Betty McDonald in the Beechwoods section, who was killed for her
money.
The high wages and high price of lumber and long terms
of credit rode along until about September, 1873, when in that month
J. Cook & Co., of Philadelphia, failed, creating a very grave
stringency in money matters. News traveled very slowly and as now,
the outlying sections were the last to feel this money stringency.
The timber cut of 1872 had been marketed in the spring of 1873, and
that money still remained in the community. Like all other panics,
everybody believed it would be of short duration and naturally the
local lumbermen continued to cut the timber on the basis of the
prior year's prices for delivery in the spring of '74. Some few
lumber operators were wise enough to quit, but others were not able
to protect themselves, or did not do so. When the lumber cut in the
fall of '73, and the winter of '74 got to market in the spring,
there was an over production and prices fell, and the purchasers
took advantage of their opportunity. The owners of the timber were
compelled to take any price offered. It is related that one man said
to his son that they must "run a bluff." This son went along the
Allegheny River and as each fleet went by he hailed the owner to
ascertain if it were sold, and if not he directed him to land at a
certain place at Pittsburgh. In this way he succeeded in tying up a
very large amount of the timber on the Allegheny River. He told his
son that he had no money, but if their method did not work out they
would have less than they had then. However, the persons who ran
their lumber to market, finding the offers so low, waited until they
could consult with the would-be purchaser, and when the buyers in
Pittsburgh discovered the great quantity of lumber engaged in this
way, they became scared and gave a fair price for this man's stock.
We therefore find that in the 70's there were bluffers
as well as today.
Of course, there was but one result of this drop in the
lumber market, and that was to cause the failure of a very large
number of lumbermen and merchants. One firm of lumbermen had three
million feet of white pine logs stocked to the stream or on skids,
which in 1874 was sold by the sheriff at 75c per thousand. Another
contractor who lived at Osceola Mills could not pay his men and they
worked for him the following year for their board. Eastern
Clearfield County and western Jefferson County, as well as other
lumber sections outside of DuBois were very hard hit. |
